Michael Stark

Trying to figure out when I started writing is like trying to decide when I started walking. The stories have always been there, rummaging around in my mind. Some went on paper. Most didn't. I wrote my first novel when I was 22. Thankfully, I left it to the dustbin of history where it shall always remain. Imagine the grin, yes, it was that bad. I landed what some writers would consider a dream job in my thirties. Playing with wind chimes led me to my first publication, a how-to piece on building and tuning wind chimes that was featured in Popular Woodworking. That article drove a series of freelancing efforts and took me to the office of a local newspaper. I spent the next few years roaming forests and streets as their freelance outdoors reporter. I panned gold. I followed hobos and street preachers. I hung out with witches and took a trip with a man confined to a wheelchair in order to give readers an insight into just how difficult life could be. I grew up in North Carolina, which is why a good part of the Fallen Earth series is set there. I've been to exotic parts of the world, many countries, and most states. None of them I know as well as the one I called home for most of my life. It makes it easy to write about it, and the people in it. I hope you enjoy the stories. MS